With the whirlwind of tyranny taking place in the heart of Connecticut, a bright light has emerged. Long-time Tea Party activist (before there was a Tea Party) and constitutionalist Joe Visconti has thrown his hat into the ring of the gubernatorial race against Dannel Malloy this year. I had the opportunity over the weekend to interview Joe, and I must say that I can see why so many patriots are behind this man. He recently told a crowd that after being on the campaign trail, he has heard from a lot of Connecticut citizens that they “want Malloy’s head on a plate.”
You may have seen Joe Visconti in the video with John Cinque, included in my article regarding the Connecticut police officer that was eager to kick in doors and confiscate guns.
Visconti, who lives about four miles from the capital in Hartford, has been active in politics for several years, fighting socialist Democrats. He is a former Republican Candidate for United States Congress against John Larson, as well as a former West Hartford Town Councilor. He has spent 40 years as a builder and has three children: Michael 20, Gabriella 24, Joey 26.
Joe Visconti at the Gun Right’s Rally – April 20, 2013 – Open Carry is Legal in Connecticut
Though active throughout the years, Visconti told Freedom Outpost that the gun issue is the issue that broke the camel’s back for him, making the decision to run for governor an easy one.
“I’m pro-2A, pro-constitution,…I’ve carried a gun for 30 years…so for me it’s not that I just picked up the gun issue,” Visconti told us. One of the reasons that Visconti carries a gun is from an experience he had in Miami in 1980 during the Mariel Boatlift. “One night coming out of the Diplomat Hotel; everyone was gone, and there was gun fire in the streets, cars burning…I got caught up in something, and I said ‘Whoa!'”
Visconti then moved back to Connecticut and wanted to get into self-protection because in his words, “I experienced the unraveling of society.” Though he had Ar-15’s and accessories when he was younger that was not what really gave him a passion for the Second Amendment is all about. This 1980 incident really solidified in his mind why people had not only the right, but the responsibility to keep and bear arms.
Joe not only carries his weapon, but has open carried and continues to do so at gun rallies in the state. He, along with Palin Smith, who has provided the videos in several of the Connecticut articles I’ve written, has been working for years to make sure the public is informed of what its government is doing.
For Visconti, the issue of gun owners’ rights is “real.” He doesn’t promote gun owners’ rights for show, or to get elected. It’s part of his life. Think about that Connecticut: Having a governor who is known to carry his weapon with him. Visconti says that alone would allow him to save tax payer money as he would not need near the size of security the current governor does.
Visconti points to the issue of constitutional rights as property rights. “Over the years, little by little, we’ve allowed the public, basically with the state and regulations, to be policemen on our property rights, to the point where we can’t even use our own….our land is our rights…Now you have to ask permission (to do with your property what you want).”
The gubernatorial candidate believes that an explanation of property rights is the easiest and best way for people to “get it” and understand the gun issue. He then referenced how government will take 5 or 10 feet at a time from property owners for electrical lines and such concluding, “More and more we get it; they realize that we’ve bought a bad piece of land. We call it incremental, legislative infringement,” which we also recognize is progressivism.
Mr. Visconti says that currently, concerning the gun registration law that went into effect earlier this year, “we are heating up… and it’s boiling.” We have seen some of that with the comments from Branford Police Officer Joseph Peterson, as well as a recent video produced by some in opposition to the law. Visconti disavows the use of violence to solve the problem. He, like Freedom Outpost, advocates a defensive posture when it comes to the use of arms.
I asked Joe Visconti is he agreed with Constitutional carry, and he affirmed that he does agree. He also stated what he would do to help restore the rights of gun owners in the state if he was elected. “I will be seeking to use either executive orders or incrementally reverse legislation to take part of this bill off.” While some would ask why he wouldn’t repeal the legislation, Visconti answers, “The governor can’t repeal it. If they (the legislature) puts it in front of me, I’ll sign the repeal.”
Joe Visconti isn’t confident that the Connecticut legislature will bring that legislation forward. He does push for taking care of those with mental health issues, but was just as concerned that such things can be abused as well. That was confirmed as we spoke about how our veterans are being railroaded with the capture of their arms and revoking their rights based on alleged mental health issues.
Visconti also supports having at least one armed guard at government schools. He says that his opposition doesn’t want armed guards at schools. “They (the schools) are potential shooting galleries because you can’t have a gun there.”
A recent Quinnipiac poll shows that Visconti, as well as other challengers for the governor’s seat, is within the margin of error against Democrat Dannel Malloy. That same poll also pointed out that 57% of the people in Connecticut were ok with the new gun legislation (SB1160), but then when asked if they thought the bill went far enough, the majority said it went too far. “It didn’t go too far with mental health,” Visconti said. “It didn’t go too far with school safety. It went too far with registering semi-automatic weapons and declaring large capacity magazines (LCM).”
Visconti said he went to the state house on the day the legislation was to be signed into law. According to him, the law was never handed out to the people, and no one knew who wrote it, which has only added to the anger of the people of having it rammed down their throats in a similar manner to Obamacare.
Joe Visconti openly opposes Common Core
Guns aren’t the only issue Visconti is taking on. He has been standing against Common Core standards for quite a while, as well as pointing out how the liberal establishment has been driving Connecticut into the ground for the past 70 years. Jobs have moved from the state; unemployment has risen, and electricity costs have skyrocketed.
In dealing with the education system, Visconti says that the desire of those in charge is to keep kids “entertained” via internet and other things, and they want to “keep them from anything to do with violence or self-defense or ‘thinking on your feet.”
“Let’s not talk about that,” Visconti said, referencing what the progressives say to keep kids in what he calls a “Pollyanna world that is utopian.” He’s right. Progressives don’t even want kids to make a gun with their fingers, pencils, or biting their pastries to look like guns. We’ve even seen extreme examples where one kid honestly forgot he had a pocket knife on him, turned it in and got a ten day suspension for his integrity!
Visconti opposes the redefining of marriage also. He’s been on the record on this issue for years. He asks, “Why is someone gay? Because of nature or nurture?”
“If it’s nature, we should teach tolerance,” he said. “But if it’s nurture, tell me if you can influence, teach and turn my child ‘gay.’ Because if nurture is what is involved and you can take my tax dollars and influence my children towards a choice to become gay… because I’m a selfish man that has a child that I want to grow up that looks like me, so they don’t adopt (referencing the only means practicing homosexuals can have children) and they marry heterosexual and I give them my property, that’s my parental right.”
Visconti was recounting an interview from 2008 where he made the statement and concluded that if homosexuality was due to nurture, and that homosexuality is a choice, “Then not with my tax money will you turn my children gay so that they cannot have children that look like me.” Clearly, he was speaking of the natural order of things and how that was established by the Creator.
Visconti said that Obama will be in Connecticut soon and obviously pushing liberal candidates. This is the time for conservatives to stand. “If Connecticut falls, New England falls, and the country falls to the liberals,” he declared. “A star burns brightest before it burns out. Liberalism is about to burn out here. There is so much pain and suffering, and there’s not money and there’s no jobs…everyone’s moving forward in the country, but not here. We’re borrowing….we can’t borrow anymore. This guy (Malloy), that’s why his ratings were so bad. We’re last for everything economically.”
Forbes produced a piece outlining the poor performance of the Constitution State, asking How Did Rich Connecticut Morph Into One Of America’s Worst Performing Economies? The Forbes article explains how a seventy year play out of liberalism has destroyed Connecticut.
On a final note, Visconti told me what I have said on many occasions, and that is that people for a long time have left the idea of charities, churches and individual charity for the promise of big government to take care of them. In doing so, they have unwittingly succumbed to a statist morality rather than a biblical morality. He also put his finger on how socialists took the principle of Jesus and the Good Samaritan and perverted it from individual, voluntary concern and love for one’s neighbor to statist taxation (also known as legalized theft), redistribution, and entitlement; something he wants to see reversed.
“You can’t mandate charity,” Visconti affirmed. “And this is how it worked. The ‘Jesus Principle’ of the Good Samaritan had come over those who had lost their morality and their religious life because it dried up for them in a conflict of interests, and when they came into the secular world, they have a hard time up here feeling they won’t give to charity or give more taxes to help the poor, but the act of charity and love, which is Christian, was removed, and the secular world made it a mandate and a law. So no longer could you choose.”
He then drew a direct line from the government taking over mandated redistribution and the loss of love between people. “This is the conflict between Christ and the secular world. This is what’s happening. They don’t want us to feel the act of love, where there is nothing between you and the act of love.” To get a better sense of what Visconti is saying, I highly recommend a video I helped produce for NiceneCouncil.com, called Not Yours to Give.
In talking to Joe Visconti, I get the sense that the time is ripe for a sober-minded governor in the state with real solutions, and he seems to have his feet on the ground, understanding it will be an uphill battle, but it is a winnable battle. So far, Joe has received support not only from citizens of Connecticut, but also from at least 17 states across the nation (I think I may have made it 18). He believes that he can win the gubernatorial race in Connecticut if people will support him from abroad and they are stepping up. You can also see him on video on a myriad of subjects here. You can visit his website here and make a donation to his campaign directly.
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